In August 2016 Groupe ADP, a French airport operator, in consortium with Bouygues Bâtiment International, a French construction company, obtained the concession for the expansion and administration of the “Jose Marti International Airport” in Havana, Cuba (Havana Airport).1 This comes at a crucial time for air transportation and tourist development in the Caribbean Island. The…
Year: 2017
What’s Next for Merchants and Consumers After the Second Circuit’s Decision in United States v. American Express?
On September 26, 2016, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals threw out a 2015 antitrust decision against American Express Company.1 The decision is the latest development in a five-year saga between the U.S. Department of Justice and seventeen individual states against Amex for its “nondiscrimination provisions,” or NDPs, which are contractual provisions that prohibit…
Big Law Partners; De-Equitization of Partners
First to recap my prior blog post, Big Law firms are facing increased pressure from clients and the market to reign in their exorbitant costs. The traditional two-tier partnership model places an emphasis on profits per equity partner. This management structure manages the complex law firm organization as if it were still the small, collegial…
The Investment Modernization Act of 2016, Part 2 of 2
Policy Considerations And Potential Business Impact Perhaps the two most relevant provisions of the Investment Modernization Act of 2016 are the changes to restrictions on advertising in sections 2(b)(1)-(2), and the reduction in reporting requirements on the Form PF for many investment advisers in section 3(a).1 The bill passed the House on September 9, 2016.2…
The Legality of The DAO
The DAO (a for-profit Distributed or Decentralized Autonomous Organization) raised more than $100 million to support the sharing economy, making it the largest crowdfunded project in human history.1 However, a careful look at the constitution of The DAO reveals that its legal ambiguities contributed to the resolution of its infamous hack in June of 2016….
Blockchain Technology Can Help Law Enforcement
Blockchain is a distributed ledger that enables individuals to conduct exchanges and can eliminate third-party involvement.1 Blockchain technology enables the first incident in which peers can conduct transfers of value directly, fostering increased efficiency in financial transactions.2 Furthermore, as a result of eliminating the traditional reliance on a bank, blockchain technology makes it cheaper for…
The CFPB and the DC Court of Appeals: A Rebuke and Question of Constitutionality
On October 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia delivered what is perhaps the biggest setback to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to date. The court held the structure and independence of the federal government’s relatively new consumer financial monitor to be unconstitutional in an opinion rebuking the CFPB for…
What a Trump Presidency Means for Detroit
After January 20th, two things are certain: Donald Trump is the President and Detroit is experiencing a robust comeback after filing for municipal bankruptcy four years ago. Donald Trump has promised to renegotiate trade deals and lower the corporate tax rate. If Trump can make good on his promises, how will these changes impact the…
Issues of Cybersecurity and Issues with Material Adverse Change Provisions
On July 25, 2016, it was announced that Verizon would buy Yahoo for $4.83 billion.1 On September 22, 2016, Yahoo announced that personal data from at least 500 million accounts was stolen back in 2014.2 During a merger and acquisition, both parties undergo an extensive due diligence process. Part of this process does includes the…
Conflict Minerals: A Noble Cause, a Controversial Solution, and an Uncertain Future (Part 2 of 2)
In the previous installment of this multi-part series, I briefly laid out the historical context that was the impetus for Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act. In this installment, I will describe the mechanics of the final rule promulgated by the SEC. The final rule is Rule 13p-1 of the Exchange Act, which was adopted…